Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, on Wednesday, pulled a joke on President Muhammadu Buhari, saying he was thankful for not being converted to Islam.
Amaechi said this during the valedictory session of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The ministers had taken turns to share their stories on the journey since 2015.
Amaechi said he was almost sent out of a church he called Christ the King Catholic Church in 2014 for supporting the president, whom they alleged was trying to Islamise the country.
“Mr President, let me thank you for not converting me to Islam. I say that specifically because in 2014 when I walked into Christ the King Catholic Church, I was literally chased out of the church as a governor because I was accused of supporting a man whose agenda was to Islamise Nigeria.
“And in Rivers State they began to call me ‘Alhaji Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi’. I thank you because they have dropped the ‘Alhaji’ and back to Mr Chibuike Amaechi,’’ he said.
Amaechi said it was initially assumed that Buhari would be an autocratic leader only for him to turn out to be an ‘extreme democrat’.
“I was told in the course of the campaign that you were autocratic and therefore you would not be democratic.
“Most of us are not happy that you have moved from your autocratic nature to an extreme democrat that everything puts to test of the people, to the extent that the people now feel that the only way things can go on in this country is by the rule of law,” he said.
